A Man Who Threw Everything Away
Two men ran their mouths and we burned through a whole panel on that?!?!
Rai was lost in thought for a while before slowly opening his mouth.
"...Gates no longer exist in this world."
Edrik gazed at him in silence.
"But I believe gates were... a truly important concept — the thing that connected this world to other worlds."
"Hmm."
Edrik's eyes narrowed, as if intrigued.
"An important concept, you say."
"Yes."
Rai continued slowly.
"Through gates, humanity discovered things it had never known before. We gained new resources, magic-related technology advanced thanks to the Visitors... and with the emergence of Awakeners, society itself transformed."
"And yet people's views of the gates differed considerably from one another."
"That's true."
Rai nodded at Edrik's words.
"Some called them a blessing granted to humanity. Others called them a calamity."
"And what about you?"
Edrik asked.
Rai thought for a moment before answering.
"I... at the very least, I believe they were something beneficial to the world."
Edrik's eyebrows rose just a fraction.
"An interesting opinion."
He lightly touched the handle of his coffee cup with a finger.
"Countless accidents happened because of gates, you know."
"......"
"People died to monsters that poured out of gates. Cities were ravaged by gates running wild. So many people lost their families."
Edrik looked at Rai.
"How do you explain that?"
Rai's expression darkened slightly.
After a brief silence, he spoke quietly.
"...My family also passed away in a gate accident."
The smile vanished from Edrik's face.
"...I see."
A moment later, Edrik spoke in a low voice.
"My condolences."
"It's all right."
Rai gave a faint smile.
"It was a long time ago."
But that smile was tinged with a quiet bitterness.
"Of course, I can't deny that gates had dangerous aspects."
Rai looked down at his own hand.
"But that doesn't mean I want to reject everything the gates brought us."
"......"
"There were undoubtedly things that contributed greatly to humanity's progress."
Rai lifted his head.
"That's why I... I want to focus on the good they did. At least, that's how I choose to see it."
Edrik stared at Rai for a long while without saying a word.
Then, at last, the corners of his mouth lifted.
"I share that opinion."
"...Really?"
"Yes."
Edrik took a sip of his coffee.
"That's exactly why I read your thesis so closely."
Rai's eyes widened slightly.
"My thesis... that closely...?"
"Of course."
Edrik replied calmly.
"You didn't view gates as mere hazards or research subjects. You tried to see the possibilities that existed within them."
"......"
"I liked that about you."
A faint flush crept across Rai's face.
"Th-that's high praise..."
"Haha."
Edrik laughed.
"It's genuinely a pleasure to have a conversation like this with you."
"And I should be the one thanking you for saying so much."
"There aren't many people at the company I can talk to like this, you see."
Edrik remarked with a hint of a grumble.
"Every single day, it's nothing but stiff, formal business talk with my secretary."
"......"
Rai's eyes narrowed for an instant.
A stiff, formal secretary.
One person immediately sprang to mind.
(...Cynedeth?)
Rai was certain of it.
But strangely, he couldn't help picturing it. Edrik rambling on about pointless nothings, while Cynedeth answered in clipped, expressionless replies.
(...That would suit them absurdly well.)
Rai suppressed a snort of laughter.
Edrik, unaware of Rai's reaction, carried on talking.
And so the two of them conversed for a long while.
About gates, about Awakeners and weapons. About what Rai was studying at school. About the research he hoped to do in the future. About how Edrik had built Argentium into what it was.
Somewhere along the way, the tension of their first meeting had eased considerably.
And at some point, the light of the setting sun began streaming through the café window.
Rai gazed outside.
"...It's already gotten this late."
"So it has."
Edrik checked his watch as well.
"I'm afraid I've taken up far too much of your time. My apologies."
"Not at all."
Rai shook his head.
"Thanks to you, Chairman, I've had a truly wonderful time."
Edrik broke into a broad smile.
"I'm glad to hear it."
Then he paused, thinking for a moment, and said,
"Ah."
"Yes?"
"You may call me Ed from now on."
Rai's expression froze.
"...Excuse me?"
"Ed."
"No, I really can't—"
Rai waved his hands frantically, flustered.
"How could I possibly presume to address the Chairman as—"
"Why not?"
"Because you're the Chairman!"
"It doesn't matter."
Edrik was perfectly composed.
"If the day comes when you join my company, I'll expect you to call me exactly that."
"......"
Rai gave an awkward laugh.
"Haha..."
But strangely, he didn't mind the idea at all.
Before rising from his seat, Edrik regarded Rai for a moment.
"Come to think of it."
"Yes?"
"Might I ask you one last question?"
"Of course."
With a soft scrape of the chair, Rai sat back down.
Edrik studied him for a beat, then asked,
"What is your goal?"
"......"
Rai's expression froze for an instant.
A goal.
It was a question he had never once considered.
Edrik spoke.
"There's no need to feel pressured."
"......"
"Just say whatever you want to say."
Rai mulled it over for a long while.
Had he ever had a goal?
Going to school. Doing his research. Spending time with his friends. Simply living each day as it came.
So much had happened recently, but what he'd originally wanted was never anything grand.
Rai opened his mouth slowly.
"...I..."
Edrik waited quietly.
"I just want to live an ordinary life... the everyday life I have now."
That was the moment.
Edrik's expression changed.
The easy smile that had rested on his face only a heartbeat ago vanished without a trace. His eyes went cold and still.
And just for a moment, a chill ran down Rai's spine.
(...What was that?)
Edrik said nothing.
Rai flinched without meaning to.
And at that, Edrik's lips curled back up, as if nothing had happened at all.
"...Ah."
He clicked his tongue lightly.
"Forgive me. I bit my tongue for a second there."
"...Oh."
Rai nodded awkwardly.
"Are you all right?"
"Of course."
Edrik answered as if it were nothing.
But the expression he'd worn just moments before refused to leave Rai's mind.
Edrik looked out the window.
"A peaceful everyday life..."
His voice dropped to a murmur.
Then he looked back at Rai.
"As for goals — you see,"
His voice had grown far calmer.
"I believe they're a truly vital force in a person's life. The drive that carries us through the world."
Rai listened quietly to his words.
"The desire to achieve something."
Edrik's finger tapped slowly against the tabletop.
"The desire to protect something."
Tap.
"Or the desire to erase something."
Tap.
"The form differs from person to person, but in the end, it's because of our goals that people keep moving forward."
Rai nodded.
"...I suppose that's true."
"I'd say that's how it is for most people."
Edrik smiled faintly.
"And I was no exception."
A brief silence.
"But there was one man I deeply admired... and he was a little different."
Rai's face turned puzzled.
"You had someone you admired, Chairman?"
"Of course."
Edrik smiled brightly.
And in that instant, his gaze locked precisely onto Rai.
"......"
Rai met that gaze.
Edrik said nothing.
He simply watched Rai in silence, wearing a smile whose meaning was impossible to read.
Edrik regarded him for a moment longer.
Then he smiled.
"That man gave up everything to achieve his purpose."
It was a voice utterly different from the relaxed tone of mere moments ago.
The light in Edrik's eyes began to shift, slowly, unmistakably.
As if recalling something, a strange heat was blooming from somewhere deep within him.
"His family."
Edrik murmured the words low, tapping a finger lightly against the table.
"His love."
Once.
"His humanity."
Twice.
And finally, pointing to his own chest, he said,
"Even his own life."
In that moment, the smile at the corner of Edrik's mouth deepened.
But it was nothing like the playful smile he had worn until now.
Something closer to madness was mixed into it.
"He threw it all away."
His voice was beginning to rise.
"He was a man who could cast aside anything — anything at all — for the sake of the single purpose he desired."
Rai's eyes widened little by little.
It felt as though the man before him was someone entirely different from the one who'd been clowning around over the strange taste of his coffee just moments before.
Edrik rose from his seat, leaning his upper body slightly forward.
"Do you understand how remarkable that is?"
"......"
"Ordinary people say it all the time. That they'll work hard for their dreams. That they'll achieve their goals while protecting the ones they love."
Edrik's eyes gleamed.
"But that man was different."
His voice trembled at the edges, charged with excitement.
"He was the kind of human being who could slice away even the things he cherished most, if his purpose demanded it."
Rai swallowed.
It was the first time he had ever seen Edrik this worked up.
Well — he'd only known the man for a short while, but still, this was a side of him that had been impossible to imagine until now.
"What an alien creature that man was..."
Edrik gave a low chuckle.
"Even now, I cannot forget him..."
And then he looked at Rai once more.
In his eyes swirled an emotion difficult to name.
Reverence.
Excitement.
And somewhere within it all, a strange, unsettling yearning.
"A being who pressed on toward his purpose, even at the cost of sacrificing everything he was."
With those words, Edrik fell silent for a moment.
Then he lifted the corners of his mouth, as if to summon his usual smile once more.
But his eyes alone were still soaked in madness.
"That is the kind of being... whom I respect without end..."
Rai's expression stiffened.
Edrik gazed at him quietly for a while, then slowly leaned back against his chair.
"Of course, you may not be able to understand."
"......"
"Someone like you — who wants to live an ordinary life."
At those words, Rai's eyebrows stirred slightly.
He remembered what he himself had said just a little while ago.
I want to live the ordinary everyday life I have now.
Edrik murmured the words back, as if savoring them once more.
"A peaceful everyday life..."
And then he smiled.
"What a delightfully amusing goal."
Rai looked at him carefully.
The maddened figure he had shown moments ago had vanished without a trace.
But a strange, nagging unease remained settled in one corner of Rai's heart.
Who on earth had this man been talking about?
And why... was he telling him about it?